Obama Proposes $4.1
Trillion Budget while USA Struggles with Worst Deficit of all Time, by Alice
Greene, 2/12/16
President
Obama presented his final budget request to Congress this Tuesday: a $4.1
trillion proposal for 2017 that represents his pipe dream for climate change as
well as his goals for bolstering technology and education while setting the
stage for his successor. Let’s not
forget that Obama has shattered records for taking America’s deficit to the
highest level yet (even when compared to Bush).
The
budget proposes $196 billion in increased spending and assumes that revenue
will increase by $308 billion. Obama also hopes to raise $2.6 trillion over the
next 10 years through tax code changes including restructuring levies on
international business income and revoking some benefits for the rich.
As
I wrote on Tuesday, the budget includes a whopping $10.25 tax on every barrel
of oil coming into the United States. This robbery will pay for clean
technology research and public transportation infrastructure. Obama also claims
that his budget would provide $1.3 billion “to advance the goals of the Global
Climate Change Initiative.”
The
White House knows that the GOP-controlled Congress won’t let much of the budget
pass. Both the Senate and House announced before the release of the 182-page
document that they would not be granting the White House budget director the
traditional hearing to explain the president’s wishes and priorities.
“This
is such a campaign document that the Republicans will almost certainly reject
it out of hand because it came from Obama,” predicts budget analyst Stan
Collender. As with most of his initiatives during his last year in office, this
ridiculous proposal is part of Obama’s attempt to create his legacy and
influence the 2016 presidential campaign.
“The
president isn’t going to shy away from proposing solutions that are both good for
our economy and address major challenges we face,” argues White House budget
director Shaun Donovan. Some proposals “may not be enacted this year, but lay
the groundwork for solutions in the long run.”
House
Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republican lawmakers criticized the plan as too
expensive. “It’s the biggest and worst one yet,” complained House Republican
whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana.
“President
Obama will leave office having never proposed a budget that balances – ever,”
says Paul Ryan. “This isn’t even a budget so much as it is a progressive manual
for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking
Americans.”
Obama
also wants:
•
$755 million for cancer research
•
$6 billion to help poor teens get jobs
•
$4 billion to develop driverless cars
•
$4 billion to establish computer coding classes for kids
•
$1.1 billion to fight opiate-abuse
•
$3.4 billion to bolster Europe’s defenses against Russia
To
fund these demands, Obama hopes to increase taxes by $2.6 trillion over the
next ten years. In addition to the tax on oil, he is planning to draw an
additional $36 billion from corporate taxes and an extra $56 billion from
wealthy Americans.
To
be specific, Obama wants to expand a 3.8% tax on the net investment income of high-earning
individuals, to reach the active income of S-corporation partners,
shareholders, and LLC members and income from sales of business
property. Last year’s proposal to “fix” our international tax system has
been renewed. The administration more than doubled its projection of how much
these tax changes would raise – up to $484 billion over the next decade.
Ten
years from now, Obama’s budget would have added $6.1 trillion in deficits to a
country already drowning in debt. To give you an idea, the national deficit is
currently hovering around $616 billion. The national debt recently topped $18
trillion.
The
budget, which would begin on October 1st, relies on optimistic assumptions
including a decreasing unemployment rate and a growing economy. This budget is
more of a wish list penned by an outgoing president than anything
else. “They figure out how to make savings in areas that Congress is not
going to agree to and then they talk about programs that are never going to
happen,” explains Scott Lilly of the Center for American Progress.
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